Leon McKenzie

Leon McKenzie

Personal information
Full name	Leon Mark McKenzie
Date of birth	17 May 1978 (1978-05-17)
Place of birth	Croydon, London, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth career
	Crystal Palace
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–2000	Crystal Palace	85	(7)
1997	→ Fulham (loan)	3	(0)
1998	→ Peterborough United (loan)	14	(8)
2000–2003	Peterborough United	90	(46)
2003–2006	Norwich City	79	(20)
2006–2009	Coventry City	62	(12)
2009–2010	Charlton Athletic	12	(0)
2010–2011	Northampton Town	27	(10)
2011	Kettering Town	9	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 18 December 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Leon Mark McKenzie (born 17 May 1978 in Croydon, Greater London) is a retired English professional footballer, who last played for Kettering Town in December 2011.

Personal life

He is the son of former British and European boxing champion Clinton McKenzie and nephew of flyweight boxing champion Duke McKenzie and politician and retired boxer Winston McKenzie. McKenzie's cousin Ashley McKenzie took part in the third series of The X Factor, broadcast on ITV1.

Football career

McKenzie began his career with his local club Crystal Palace, making his debut during the 1995–96 season. In 1997 he was loaned to Fulham and in 1998 to Peterborough United, where he scored 9 goals in 15 games.

In 2000 McKenzie joined Peterborough on a permanent basis for a fee of £25,000. In three years at London Road he scored 49 goals in 103 games.

He joined Norwich from Peterborough in December 2003 for a fee of £325,000, and instantly won over the Canaries supporters by scoring twice on his debut to help beat local rivals Ipswich Town at Portman Road and go top of the First Division. His goals made a significant contribution to Norwich's promotion to the Premier League as First Division champions at the end of the 2003-04 season.

Within a year, he had turned from a Second Division to a Premiership player. McKenzie took time to find his feet in the Premiership but he established a strike partnership with Dean Ashton which would become one of the most potent in the division during the closing stages of the 2004–05 season. His goals helped Norwich to haul themselves into contention to avoid the drop, although they were relegated on the last day of the season.

He came third in the Norwich City Supporters Player of The Season vote for the 2004–05, beaten by Darren Huckerby and Damien Francis.^{[citation needed]}

The 2005–06 season for McKenzie was interrupted by injuries and personal difficulties surrounding the break-up of his marriage. At the start of the 2006–07 campaign, he handed in a transfer request to manager Nigel Worthington. Although Worthington rejected McKenzie's request, he subsequently confirmed that McKenzie would be sold if they received an offer that matched the club's valuation of the player.

McKenzie was signed by Coventry City on transfer deadline day in August 2006 for an initial £600,000 that, depending on appearances and promotion, could rise to £1m. Ironically, Coventry's first match after signing McKenzie was against Norwich – however, McKenzie was unable to play due to a condition of the transfer that prevented him from playing in either of the two fixtures between Coventry and Norwich in the 2006–07 season. He made his debut for Coventry on 12 September 2006 as a substitute against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

He started the 2007–08 season well, scoring against Barnsley on the opening day of the season and against Hull, before a knee injury put him out of action for several weeks.

He scored in Coventry's opening game of the 2008–09 season against his old club, Norwich City. This marked McKenzie's 100th professional career goal and he celebrated by revealing a vest with "100" on it. He was subsequently booked for his celebration.

On 1 September 2009 it was confirmed that he had signed for Charlton Athletic. He scored his first and only goal for Charlton against Southampton in the Football League Trophy on 11 November 2009. He was one of six players to be released by Charlton Athletic following the end of the 2009–10 league season. On 8 September 2010 it was confirmed he had signed a contract with Northampton Town until the end of 2010–11 season.

McKenzie featured in a friendly for conference club Luton Town against Bedford Town

On the 15th December 2011 Mckenzie announced his retirement from professional football. He played his final game on December, 17th 2011. He is now planning to move on to his music career ambitions.

Honours

Promotions

• 2003–04: Division One Champion (promotion to The Premiership) twice, once with – Norwich City and with Crystal Palace, Leon was on the bench in the final at Wembley, David Hopkin scored the winning goal.

External links

• Leon McKenzie player profile at ccfc.co.uk
• Leon McKenzie player profile at canaries.co.uk
• Leon McKenzie career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
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